Avril Campbell, Honey Show secretary, said that the number of entries was down from an all-time high last year, but that this was only to be expected after a poor summer.

Most notable was the fact that there were no entries in the classes for cut-comb, chunk honey and section honey.

“All these depend on plenty of hours of sunshine to encourage the #bees to make good comb,” Avril said.

The judge was Jim Fletcher, from county Down. Jim is a fully qualified honey judge and has judged at Fermanagh Beekeepers’ events on many occasions.

He is always willing to give advice to those who wish to improve the standard of their exhibits and, in his remarks afterwards, he said that, while there was room for improvement in some exhibits, he had found it more difficult to differentiate between those contending for the top awards.

Teresa McVeigh acted as judge’s steward. She commented that she picked up quite a few tips on the showing of the various products.

Noel McAllister, chairman of FBKA, thanked Jim for judging and for his constructive remarks. He also thanked Avril Campbell, honey secretary, for the smooth organisation of the show and all those who had helped to stage the exhibits.

He also commented on the weather this summer and its effect on bees. The leaving of roadside verges uncut and the planting of bee friendly flowers can only help bees.

He went on to explain how Fermanagh beekeepers are working to improve the standard of the bees with which we are working, aiming to make it easier to handle the bees and thus increasing the pleasure which we get from our hobby.

He thanked all those who had taken so much trouble to prepare their entries for the show, helping to make it a success.

There were large numbers of visitors to the show and the observation hive proved a great attraction to old and young alike, especially as the queen continued to lay eggs in the cells, quite undisturbed by her many admirers.